What am I looking at - Gibson Blackbird wiring

[poochiecheeks]

Hi, I'm not sure what's going on with the electronics of this 2001 Gibson Blackbird (Thunderbird) bass I just bought. Everything works perfectly, but I opened up the control cavity out of curiosity and saw this. The only external control is an on/off switch. I believe these are the same pickups as in my 1991 Gibson Tbird.



Could this be the stock wiring right from Gibson in 2001, or does it look aftermarket? The screw holes were full of bright mahogany dust as if it'd never been opened.

Is the resistor just there to simulate the loading of a v/v/t setup? I thought the appeal of the on/off switch was the clarity going right to the jack.

Is there a benefit to different value resitors in this setup that would make it work better in a mix?

And finally does anyone else have a Gibson blackbird with this same setup?
Heres the bass for context:

Thank you.

 

[Gaolee]

I am surprised to see that resistor. Other than that, it looks like the pickups are wired in series to the kill switch. Somebody else who actually has that model of Thunderbird will know more than me. I hope.

 

[Nocturnal]

The BlackBird I currently own had the electronics highly modified (Now its set up as V-V-Kill) so can't help much, but I used to own one with the original configuration. I can't recall if the transistor was there, but it was a very minimalist setup in the wiring and from my fuzzy memories, looked like your setup.

 

[Crater]

Going by the photos, both pickups are wired together, in parallel, all the time. The switch is a kill switch. The resistor technically isn't needed, it may have been added to make this bass' output level match another bass.

 

[poochiecheeks]

Going by the photos, both pickups are wired together, in parallel, all the time. The switch is a kill switch. The resistor technically isn't needed, it may have been added to make this bass' output level match another bass.

That makes a lot of sense. The output of this bass is definitely on the lower side. I'm going to jump across the resistor with alligator clips and see what that does.

 

[poochiecheeks]

So I looked it up and that's a 380kOhm resistor in series with the hot, with both pickups wired in parallel to the switch. I put on some brand new rotosounds and jumped across the resistor with some alligator clips- with it the sound is like my other tbird after 3-4 gigs, and with it bypassed there is much more high end information without all the lows. I don't see the point in keeping it as it will be EQd anyway.
I just can't imagine that this is how they come stock from the factory.

 

[Nocturnal]

Finally found a picture of a BlackBird's control cavity. I don't see a resistor in the wiring path.
https://reverb.com/item/65405202-gi...kbird-bass-guitar-w-ohsc-2001-limited-edition

 

[poochiecheeks]

Finally found a picture of a BlackBird's control cavity. I don't see a resistor in the wiring path.
https://reverb.com/item/65405202-gi...kbird-bass-guitar-w-ohsc-2001-limited-edition

Wow, thank you for that. That looks incredibly close to mine, down to where the bridge ground wrapped around both pickup shields and going to the switch and how the pickup leads are coiled. I would have to assume this is the stock wiring then- maybe that same resistor is under the heat shrink right before the jack in that picture?